On 16 August 2012, a 16-year-old Palestinian boy is attacked and left unconscious by Israeli youths in what has been described as an attempted lynching in Jerusalem.

On Thursday, 16 August 2012, 16-year-old Jamal made plans with his friends to go and buy clothes to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Husam, one of Jamal’s friends, recalls: “at around 11:10 p.m., I finished at the restaurant where I work during the summer in Jaffa Street [West Jerusalem], and went out to meet my friends, Jamal, Nu'man, Mohammad and Abed al-Hadi. We started window-shopping and noticed a group of Israeli youths shouting and chanting slogans against Arabs, like ‘death to the Arabs’, ‘Arabs are bastards’, and other insults in Hebrew. Most of them were wearing blue shirts and dark blue or black trousers, and some of them were wearing small caps [kippahs].”

At that moment, Husam received a call from his father and he stayed behind talking on the phone as his friends kept walking. “I got off the phone with my father and looked around and did not see my friends. Instead, I saw young Israelis running in the direction my friends were heading, so I followed them to see what was going on.”

Husam soon realised someone was being attacked by the youngsters. “When I approached I saw around 40 to 50 of them gathering around someone lying on the ground, attacking him and beating him. Then they started fleeing because one of them shouted in Hebrew that the police was coming. I approached the person lying on the ground and saw it was my friend Jamal. He was lying on his stomach with his eyes open; he was unconscious. It seemed as if he had stopped breathing. I shook him and called his name but he did not respond.”

“Then, a paramedic pushed me away and a policeman came,” Husam continues. “The policeman started chasing away the by-standers, and the paramedic lifted Jamal's legs. My friend Nu'man and I helped the paramedic. We grabbed Jamal's legs and he started pressing on Jamal's chest because his heart had stopped. He kept trying to resuscitate him until an ambulance arrived and took Jamal away.”

Nu’man, Mohammad and Abed al-Hadi were taken to Al Mascobiyya interrogation centre to give their statements about the attack. In the meantime, Husam went to check on Jamal at the hospital. He had regained consciousness, but was under the effect of anesthesia.

Jamal has now recovered, but has no recollection of the incident. The attack was described by the Israeli police as an attempted lynching. On 28 August 2012, the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office filed indictments against nine Israeli teenagers. According to Haaretz, eight of the perpetrators will be tried in Jerusalem District Court on charges of incitement to racism, incitement to violence and aggravated assault. Another 15-year-old girl will be tried in Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on charges of incitement to racism and incitement to violence. She has already been released to house arrest.

Shuhada Khuza’a is a secondary school that lies 500 meters from the border between Khan Yunis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and Israel. This school was established in 2002 and serves the entire population of the small farming village of Khuza’a. Due to its proximity to the ‘buffer zone’, the school is subject to frequent shootings from tanks and shelling from drones. The ‘buffer zone’ is a military no-go area which was unilaterally imposed by Israel in 2007. It extends along the entire northern and eastern perimeter of the Gaza Strip adjacent to Israel, but inside Palestinian territory.

In 2009, Israel announced that the ‘buffer zone’ would extend 300 meters into Gaza, but the precise area designated by Israel as a 'buffer zone' is unknown and, in reality, it can extend as far as 1,500 meters. The establishment of the ‘buffer zone’ is illegal under international law. The buffer zone is often enforced using live fire, which results in the loss of Palestinian lives, land and property. An example of this enforcement is the 5 automaticIsraeli sniper towers near Shuhada Khuza’a which shoot at anyone who ventures into the 300 meters. Akram Assad has been the director of Shuhada Khuza’a for 2 years and can easily describe the kind of conditions that his 300 students face on a daily basis: “There have been so many attacks on this school, sometimes even twice in one month. No prior warning is usually given, even though some of the attacks happen when school is in session. On 14 June 2012, for instance, the school was shelled just a bit after the children left.Most often, the attacks come from tanks shooting shells, but sometimes we have drone attacks after school hours. When the shooting begins, we make the students lie on the ground in their classrooms or gather them in one place and wait for the shooting to stop. We have no way to leave or escape once an attack begins. Once, the tanks came up to the school and we all stayed behind for 2 hours after school, because even the ICRC could not coordinate for us to leave.”

Ammunition collected in Shuhada Khuza'a after one of the attacks

The constant attacks have had a negative effect on the teachers and students of Shuhada Khuza’a: “The children are always nervous and feel scared. These psychological problems are reflected in their poor grades and discipline issues. In the morning, if they see tanks around the buffer zone, they simply do not show up for school that day. The teachers are also scared, so how can they be expected to help the children? It is obviously very hard to learn or teach under these conditions.”

Some of the structures in the school remain unrepaired from previous attacks. This can be attributed to the closure of the Gaza Strip and the subsequent ban on imports, which has resulted in the limited availability and prohibitively high prices of building materials. The computer classroom, for instance, has a gaping hole in one of its walls resulting from a previous attack. Further to this, bullet holes in some of the windows and corridors serve as evidence of repeated attacks on the school. One of the buildings is considerably damaged, and has metal rods protruding from a section of the wall: “A fletchete bomb was dropped on the school one night and the shrapnel chipped some of the walls. We have yet to receive help to reconstruct the damaged structures. Sometimes, when the buildings get damaged, we form committees, approach businessmen or ask the children’s parents to contribute towards repairs.

For some of the students, the attacks and their effects are not only limited to their school life: “During ‘Operation Cast Lead’ in 2009, 4 of our students died and 9 students were orphaned. A sizeable number of our current students have had their homes destroyed completely or partially by Israel’s forces. When they go home, they cannot even study or do their homework. They have serious psychological problems and we try to keep them close to their teachers, so that they can receive counseling and assistance with their studies. We also try to engage them in sports such as football, as a way of helping them to forget about their problems.”

Irrespective of the significant challenges, Akram hopes that the situation and learning conditions will improve in Shuhada Khuza’a school: “I do not know if these attacks are meant to incite fear in the children or make us leave the area. This school is the only secondary school in Khuza’a and next year we will have even more students. It is dangerous here and there is no safe place to hide from the attacks. We just wish and hope for the same things as schools in other countries. In particular, we need a room for the psychology teacher, because it is one of our priorities to address the psychological problems that these children have. We also hope that this area will be peaceful one day.”

Under Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the destruction of private property is prohibited unless rendered absolutely necessary by military operations. Further, according to the second paragraph of Article 8 (b)(i) and (ii) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, both “intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities” and “intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives” constitute war crimes.

Names: Noor ad-Deen, Mo’men and Jalal DaraghmehDate of incident: 28 August 2012Ages: 11, 14 and 17Location: Al Lubban ash-Sharqiya village, West BankNature of incident: Settler violence On 28 August 2012, the Daraghmeh family home is attacked by settlers as the children sleep and other family members work in the yard. Settlers beat an 11-year-old breaking his arm.Noor ad-Deen, Mo’men and Jalal live with their family in Lubban ash-Sharqiya, a village south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. “The village is surrounded by Israeli settlements: the settlement of Ma’ale Levona about one kilometer to the southeast, the settlement of Eli about two kilometers to the north, and the settlement of Shilo about four kilometers to the east,” explains 11-year-old Noor ad-Deen. “Our house is located on 10 dunams (1 hectare) of agricultural land with a well and a spring,” he adds. “On 28 August 2012, at around 8:30 am, Mo’men and I woke up to my mother shouting, ‘Please help us. Settlers are attacking!’” says Noor. “She grabbed me by my hand and pulled me out of the room. I was so terrified I was crying. We were about to exit the room when we were surprised by around 10 Israeli settlers in civilian clothes. They had stormed the house and started attacking us. They were wearing white shirts with straps dangling. They had hair ringlets and were wearing small caps [kippahs]. When I saw them, I started shaking and screaming loudly. I was still holding my mother's hand when suddenly, one of them grabbed me by my shirt, lifted me and threw me about one-and-a-half metres. I fell on the floor and another settler starting hitting me with a stick on my left arm and leg. He was wearing glasses. I was in pain and really terrified.” Eventually, Noor’s father and older brother were able to drive the settlers out of the house, but continued to clash with the group outside, while more settlers returned in an attempt to regain access to the house. “I heard banging on the door and stones hitting the windows,” Noor recalls. “We locked ourselves in the room for about 15 minutes, until my father and Jalal called us out.” When the boys came out of the room they found the Israeli army in the house. The settlers had already fled in their cars. The family was held in one room for some time, and Noor’s 17-year-old brother Jalal was arrested for attacking the settlers. Noor and his brother Mo’men we’re eventually taken to the hospital, where Noor found out his arm was broken. “We feel very scared at night,” says Noor. “We have nightmares because of the attack.” The children’s mother says the incident has affected them psychologically. According to her, since the day of the attack Noor ad-Deen and Mo’men refuse to sleep alone and are afraid to go out of the house. They are receiving psychological support from Doctors Without Borders. Their brother Jalal was released on bail on 13 September and is awaiting trial before the Israeli military court. The settlers who attacked them have not been brought to justice. According to the UN, [PDF] the attack against the Daraghmeh family is part of an ongoing attempt by Israeli settlers from Ma’ale Levona settlement to take over the water well and a historical building that are located on the family land. In a recent study, the UN[PDF] found that Israeli settlers have taken total or partial control over 56 water springs located mostly on private Palestinian land.

Names: Iman and Mohammad G.Date of incident: 16 August 2012Ages: 4 and 5Location: Near Bethlehem, West BankNature of incident: Settler violenceOn 16 August 2012, two children suffer burns after a Molotov cocktail is thrown at the car they are travelling in. Three Israeli settler children suspected of committing the attack are questioned by the police and released on bail. Four-year-old Iman and five-year-old Mohammad live with their parents in the village of Nahhalin, about 12 kilometres southwest of Bethlehem. At around 4:30 p.m., on Thursday 16 August 2012, they took a taxi to go to the supermarket with their parents and their uncle. As they were passing by the Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at their vehicle. “My husband was sitting in the front seat next to the driver. Hasan and I were sitting in the back seat with the children. Hasan was carrying Mohammad, and Iman was sitting next to me,” recalls Jamila, the children’s mother. “As we were passing by the settlement of Bat Ayin, something terrible happened. A Molotov cocktail was thrown at the car and came through the window, landing in front of Ayman. That moment was terrifying. The Molotov exploded a few seconds later and started a fire.”

In the confusion, the driver lost control of the car and crashed on the left side of the road. When the car stopped, they managed to get out, but they were all injured. “We were all burnt before we managed to get out of the car,” says Jamila. “My husband and the driver were wearing their seat belts so it took them longer to get out. That is why their injuries were more severe, especially my husband's.” The family and the driver were taken to the Hadassah Ein-Karim Hospital for treatment. “I was hospitalised for 12 days, Mohammad for 25 days, and Iman for four days,” says Jamila. “My husband is still in the hospital. We all underwent surgery.” Jamila remembers seeing the attacker just before he threw the fire-bomb. “I saw a young settler wearing a small cap [kippah]… I saw him throwing the Molotov cocktail from behind a roadside barrier on the right side of the road.” Jamila adds: “Mohammad is still receiving treatment at home. We are giving Iman a lot of support because she is still scared.” On 26 August 2012, three Israeli settler children, aged between 12 and 13 years, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack. One boy was conditionally released by a civilian judge on 29 August, and the other two were conditionally released the following day. This case highlights the discriminatory nature of the legal systems applied by the Israeli authorities in the West Bank. Whilst settler children are processed through Israel’s juvenile justice system and generally released on bail, Palestinian children accused of similar offences are prosecuted in military courts which deny children bail in at least 87 percent[PDF] of cases, and have a conviction rate of 99.74 percent.

Name: Said Q.Date of Incident: 28 August 2012Age: 14Location: Abu Dis, East JerusalemNature of incident: DetentionOn 28 August 2012, a 14-year-old boy from Abu Dis, in occupied East Jerusalem, is beaten by Israeli soldiers and/or Border Police on his way to buy milk for his little sister. “On Tuesday, at around 8:30 pm, my mother gave me 35 shekels and asked me to go and buy some milk for my little sister,” says 14-year-old Said. “I went to the shop near the Israeli military camp that is well-known in the neighbourhood as a detention centre. Confrontations usually erupt whenever the soldiers drive by on their way to and from the camp.” “I was approaching the shop when I saw confrontations between Israeli Border Police and Palestinian young men,” recalls Said. “I got stuck between the young men and a military jeep, with stones coming at me. Soldiers got out of the jeep and started chasing the young men. I turned around and tried to take a short cut back home. I saw another Border Police jeep and a soldier got out and ordered me to approach him, while insulting me. He was about five metres away and he even threw a stun grenade that landed between my legs and exploded.” Said tried to run home but he tripped because he was wearing slippers that were too big for him. “A number of soldiers approached while aiming their weapons at me,” he recalls. “One of them handcuffed my hands behind my back so tight that I felt a lot of pain. I asked him to loosen them but he did not listen,” says Said. “He grabbed me by my neck as if he wanted to choke me and dragged me along the stones and thorns, while slapping me with his other hand on the back and face. He also insulted me.” Said was taken to a military jeep and placed on the metal floor. “Another soldier lifted my shirt over my face so I could not see anything. I think there were four or five of them. They slapped and kicked me,” says Said. “I was on the metal floor, handcuffed behind my back and my shirt pulled over my face. I kept shouting in pain. They also hit me on my back with their rifles. They kept beating me for about three minutes as the jeep traveled to the military camp.”

On arrival at the military camp, Said was thrown out of the jeep and landed in the arms of a soldier. “He head-butted me in my right eye which became blurry for a short time. I also had a severe headache. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, a soldier punched me under my right eye. He then turned me and pushed me against a wall and kicked me on my legs and I fell. I was barefoot after losing my slippers. He then blindfolded me and made me sit on a wooden chair in the yard. Soldiers who passed by either punched me or spat on me,” recalls Said. “I was still handcuffed and blindfolded. They kept me sitting in the yard for about four hours.” Said recalls that somebody started asking him questions in Arabic. “‘Who threw Molotov cocktails at us? If you tell me who did it, I’ll send you home.’ I told him I didn’t know,” says Said. “He also cocked his gun to intimidate me into confessing. ‘Can we shoot him?’ a soldier asked. ‘Yes, shoot him. He’s an animal,’ a second said. ‘Don’t. We’ll execute him in Ofer,’ a third said.” At around 1:00 am, Said was put back in a military vehicle and transferred to the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. He was still handcuffed and blindfolded. “The handcuffs were so tight I felt they were cutting into my wrists. I asked for them to be loosened several times but they refused and kept insulting me. On arrival at Ma’ale Adumim the soldier sitting next to me ordered me to get out and I bumped my head. He started shouting at me.” Said was then dragged before being handed over to somebody else who removed his handcuffs and blindfold. He was asked by a policeman for his father’s telephone number. The policeman telephoned Said’s father who came to the police station inside the settlement. Said’s father was allowed into the interrogation room with his son. “‘Where were you going?’ the police interrogator asked me. ‘I was going to buy milk for my sister,’ I said. “Show me the money?’ he said, and I showed him the money and told him what had happened. He asked me about the bruises and I told him,” recalls Said. “The interrogation was in Arabic and it was audio-visually recorded. It lasted about one-and-a-half hours. Afterwards the interrogator took photos of my bruises. ‘I recommend you file a lawsuit against the soldiers,’ he told my father.” Said signed a statement written in Hebrew and was released at around 3:00 am after his father paid 500 Shekels. “A trial is scheduled to take place in Ofer military court on 30 January 2013,” says Said. According to Said’s father, three days after the incident his son started having nightmares and refusing to go out to the store alone at night. He now only goes when accompanied by one of his brothers. Said now also wets his bed, something he never did before. His father also describes how he has become “isolated and depressed” whereas before he loved to go out and have fun.Related links:

Name: Qusai A.Date of Incident: 7 August 2012Ages: 16 Location: Kufr, Qaddum, West BankNature of Incident: DetentionOn 7 August 2012, a 16-year-old boy from the village of Kufr Qaddum, in the occupied West Bank, is arrested by Israeli soldiers at 3:30 am and accused of throwing stones and participating in a demonstration.“At around 3:30 am, I woke up to noise outside,” recalls 16-year-old Qusai. “I went out to the balcony and saw many soldiers jumping over the fence into our yard.” Five soldiers entered the house and ordered Qusai’s family outside. “They checked our IDs and said they would take me with them, but without saying why. Two soldiers grabbed me by my hands and took me out of the house. My mother and my sister started crying and screaming,” recalls Qusai. “My father asked the soldiers where they were taking me and one replied in Arabic that they would take me for four hours and bring me back. My father asked him to come with me, but the soldier shouted at him, and ordered him inside and slammed the door.” Once outside, Qusai reports that he was pushed against a wall, searched and then his hands were tied from the front using three plastic ties in accordance with army procedure. Initially Qusai was not blindfolded, but then an officer started shouting at one of the soldiers and he was then blindfolded. Qusai says the blindfold was very tight and painful. He was kept standing for about 15 minutes and then his blindfold was removed. In front of him stood a “tall plump man wearing a hat”. The man introduced himself as “Captain Shukri” and said he was the Israeli intelligence officer with responsibility for the village. The man ttook off his hat and said: “I’m taking it off so you can recognise me when I arrest people like you from the village. You’ll be interrogated and you’d better cooperate and confess to what you’ve done.” Qusai was then made to walk about 200 metres where he was placed inside a military vehicle. A short time later he was taken out of the vehicle and placed in a military truck and made to sit on the metal floor, still tied and blindfolded. “The truck travelled for about 10 minutes and stopped at a military camp,” recalls Qusai. “They pulled me out and made me stand against a wall with two other detainees. I tried to talk to the detainees but a soldier heard me and started shouting at me to shut up. The soldier took me away from the other detainees and made me stand under an air conditioner with very cold water dripping on my head. I tried to move away but was prevented by the soldier. I stood there for about 10 minutes and my clothes got all wet.” Qusai was given a brief medica check whilst still tied and blindfolded before being transferred to Huwwara interrogation and detention centre near the West Bank city of Nablus. Along the way Qusai reports that the soldiers kept calling him “a motherfucker” and “son of a whore”. He also recalls that the soldiers called his sister “a whore” and said “you Arabs have no honour”. Qusai estimates that they arrived at Huwwara at around 7:00 am and he was made to sit outside on the ground in the hot sun, still tied and blindfolded, until around 12:30 pm. “I asked them many times for some water but they refused.” At around 12:30 pm, Qusai was transferred to Salem interrogation and detention centre, near the West Bank city of Jenin. On arrival at Salem, Qusai was taken into an interrogation room where his feet were shackled and his hands were tied to the chair. He was kept in this position from approximately 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm. “The interrogator accused me of throwing stones which I denied,” says Qusai. “‘Denying it won’t do you any good because there’s someone from your village who says he saw you,’ said the interrogator.” The interrogator then ordered Qusai to sign a statement in Arabic which he refused. He also wanted to take Qusai’s fingerprints but he refused. “He started shouting and threatened to take my fingerprints by force as ‘the law allows me to break your fingers.’ I was so scared that I let him take my fingerprints.” Qusai says that at no time did the interrogator explain to him his rights, and he did not see a lawyer prior to being interrogated and was not accompanied by a parent – rights Israeli children enjoy. Following his interrogation, Qusai was transferred to Megiddo prison, inside Israel, in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibits such transfers. He was strip searched on arrival. On 9 August, Qusai was brought before Salem military court for the first time